A Wood County Jail inmate who escaped while being treated at Wood County Hospital on Saturday reportedly stole a vehicle from a Bowling Green hair salon and fled to Toledo. He is still on the lam.
Christopher Michael Eldredge, 35, reportedly fled on foot around 4:21 p.m., from a Wood County Sheriff’s Deputy who said he was checking the restroom for contraband before the inmate used it.
Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said this afternoon that his office is working with the U.S. Marshals Office and Toledo Police to locate Eldredge – who now faces felony charges for escape and stealing a vehicle.
The inmate was taken to the hospital after he complained of an illness, Wasylyshyn said.
Bowling Green Police Division’s report of the incident shows that the police were made aware of a sheriff’s deputy in a foot pursuit of the inmate in the area of Pinewood and Willowwood.
Dispatch received a 911 call from the resident at 1000 block of Pinewood. The caller advised that she observed the foot chase and the inmate attempted to get into her vehicle when she pulled into her residence. She advised that the deputy was chasing the subject around her vehicle as the inmate was hitting her vehicle.
The woman reported the inmate fled westbound with the deputy continuing pursuit.
The inmate, in an orange jumpsuit, then reportedly entered a hair salon in the 1200 block of West Wooster Street. According to the staff and customers, the prisoner ran into the shop and demanded car keys. They described him as out of breath, agitated and shaking. Eldredge reportedly saw a customer’s keys sitting on a counter, grabbed them, and ran out of the salon.
An employee ran out after him, but saw a deputy approaching, so she stopped chasing the inmate. The deputy began struggling with Eldredge, but the inmate was able to get away and get in the car.
The vehicle was later found in the area of Woodlawn and Phillips Avenue in Toledo.
Eldredge, 6 foot and 190 pounds with a shaved head, was incarcerated at Wood County Jail on April 7 for receiving stolen property. He has a bald eagle tattoo on his chest, a black panther and pit bull tattoos on the upper part of his back, and a large bump on his head.
